The detection of the level of glucose or other analytes, such as lactate, oxygen or the like, in certain individuals is vitally important to their health. For example, the monitoring of glucose is particularly important to individuals with diabetes. Diabetics may need to monitor glucose levels to determine when insulin is needed to reduce glucose levels in their bodies or when additional glucose is needed to raise the level of glucose in their bodies.
Devices have been developed for continuous or automatic monitoring of analytes, such as glucose, in bodily fluid such as in the blood stream or in interstitial fluid. Some of these analyte measuring devices are configured so that at least a portion of the devices are positioned below a skin surface of a user, e.g., in a blood vessel or in the subcutaneous tissue of a user.
Ease of insertion and use, including minimal user intervention and on-body size and height (or thickness) of such transcutaneous or percutaneous medical devices that are worn on the body are important in usability, wearability, and comfort during the device usage. Moreover, for many of such medical devices that require a battery or a similar power source to perform the device specific operations, power management as well as shelf life is important.